The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain Exactly the crap I feared it was but gave it a chance anyway. But couldn't go beyond the first 20 minutes anyway. Women like it? Then I'm only reinforced in my prejudices against them.

The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain Exactly the crap I feared it was but gave it a chance anyway. But couldn't go beyond the first 20 minutes anyway. Women like it? Then I'm only reinforced in my prejudices against them.

Garden State - 6.5/10Fight Club - impossible to rate (technical stuffs: 11/10 - subject of the movie: 1/10)Amelie - 9/10 ("harmless"? it's the only good movie about nice guys and happiness... it may sound stupid, but what they say in this movie isn't; morever, their is a lot of creative things in it... you can "not like it", even "hate it", but no futur filmmaker can call it garbage IMO)

Amelie - 9/10 ("harmless"? it's the only good movie about nice guys and happiness... it may sound stupid, but what they say in this movie isn't; morever, their is a lot of creative things in it... you can "not like it", even "hate it", but no futur filmmaker can call it garbage IMO)

Harmless, as in unoffensive and lacking the pretension that cripples similar movies.

Logged

Claudia, we need you to appear in LOST COMMAND. It's gonna revolutionize the war genre. What did you think of the script?

Don Giovanni (1979) - 6.5/10Mozart might have been a hell of a composer but he certainly was pretty poor a storyteller. Talk about anticlimax! The statue is a great element but has nothing to do with the story we've seen that far. I want Don Ottavio to avenge The Commendatore in a big fucking fight and all I get is a clumsy statue?

Other wise the opera works surprisingly well in a movie. I think it was a good decision to keep it operatic and not to bring the actors' gestures etc. down. The sets are clearly movie sets in that they are 3D, yet they are often obviously sets.

What I can't understand is that how can you enjoy an opera (I mean at a real opera) if you don't have subtitles?

Defiance is pretty good--lots and lots of killing (now THAT'S Entertainment!), with frequent bucolic interludes in the forests of Lithuania. Also plenty of stock characters dutifully plodding through their formulaic routines (the brothers who love each other but get on each others tits! the brilliant leader who is underappreciated and wracked by self-doubt--and the woman who understands him! the craven underlings! the loyal friends! the cranky but lovable old guy! the cartoon nazis! and of course, the beautiful forest nymphs with whom to frolic!). Worst of all though is the shite tactics these guys use: an attack comes and the partisans must retreat across a stream and up a hill where there are no prepared positions. That was their plan, to be on the wrong side of the stream? Later they get reliable intel that they're gonna get hit in two days. General Dimwit decides to waste a day doing nothing before suddenly deciding they need to evacuate, just as all hell breaks loose! Later, after navigating a swamp--a Red Sea moment (or, indeed, a Reed Sea moment, heh, heh)--the group emerges onto solid ground and promptly plops down for a siesta. No forward perimeter is established, and lo and behold, a tank with infantry support rolls down and blows the pooh out of them. But just when all seems lost--here comes the Cavalry! Great, cause that means now the brothers can catch up with each other and clear all their issues. Obviously this is all Hollywood B.S., cause otherwise there is no way these guys would have survived a week of Scout camp, let alone WWII. Still, I somehow enjoyed this--I guess it was the high body count.

Lola Montes is end-of-the-line Ophuls. He revisits his earlier, better films, this time is 'scope and color. Unhappily, there doesn't seem to be much point to the exercise. The title character is vapid and uninteresting, and cannot be redeemed no matter the amount of eye candy thrown about. And it must be admitted that Ophuls' best work was done adapting (or mis-adapting) the works of others; it was a mistake for him to attempt a story off his own bat. Live and learn, eh? Except he did neither . . .

In The Wrestler I sure got tired of the camera constantly following Mickey Rourke from behind; man, I've seen enough episodes of Cops to last a lifetime, I don't need this tired-ass technique working its way into anything else. Happily, when we see Mickey from the front, we get a pretty good performance out of him. And he does all his own stunts! Body slam him again, Ram! The film does a great job of representing the milieu (which is a gas). However, gas is also something the screenplay runs out of: real life goes away, and movie logic takes over as we approach the Final Take-down. This baby needed a third-act rewrite. Oh well.

Defiance is pretty good--lots and lots of killing (now THAT'S Entertainment!), with frequent bucolic interludes in the forests of Lithuania. Also plenty of stock characters dutifully plodding through their formulaic routines (the brothers who love each other but get on each others tits! the brilliant leader who is underappreciated and wracked by self-doubt--and the woman who understands him! the craven underlings! the loyal friends! the cranky but lovable old guy! the cartoon nazis! and of course, the beautiful forest nymphs with whom to frolic!). Worst of all though is the shite tactics these guys use: an attack comes and the partisans must retreat across a stream and up a hill where there are no prepared positions. That was their plan, to be on the wrong side of the stream? Later they get reliable intel that they're gonna get hit in two days. General Dimwit decides to waste a day doing nothing before suddenly deciding they need to evacuate, just as all hell breaks loose! Later, after navigating a swamp--a Red Sea moment (or, indeed, a Reed Sea moment, heh, heh)--the group emerges onto solid ground and promptly plops down for a siesta. No forward perimeter is established, and lo and behold, a tank with infantry support rolls down and blows the pooh out of them. But just when all seems lost--here comes the Cavalry! Great, cause that means now the brothers can catch up with each other and clear all their issues. Obviously this is all Hollywood B.S., cause otherwise there is no way these guys would have survived a week of Scout camp, let alone WWII. Still, I somehow enjoyed this--I guess it was the high body count.

Lola Montes is end-of-the-line Ophuls. He revisits his earlier, better films, this time is 'scope and color. Unhappily, there doesn't seem to be much point to the exercise. The title character is vapid and uninteresting, and cannot be redeemed no matter the amount of eye candy thrown about. And it must be admitted that Ophuls' best work was done adapting (or mis-adapting) the works of others; it was a mistake for him to attempt a story off his own bat. Live and learn, eh? Except he did neither . . .

In The Wrestler I sure got tired of the camera constantly following Mickey Rourke from behind; man, I've seen enough episodes of Cops to last a lifetime, I don't need this tired-ass technique working its way into anything else. Happily, when we see Mickey from the front, we get a pretty good performance out of him. And he does all his own stunts! Body slam him again, Ram! The film does a great job of representing the milieu (which is a gas). However, gas is also something the screenplay runs out of: real life goes away, and movie logic takes over as we approach the Final Take-down. This baby needed a third-act rewrite. Oh well.